Flores’ role is not same after missing two years There was a time Jesus Flores was considered the catcher of the future.
He was 23 years old and the starter for a Nationals club desperate for young talent. A former Rule V draft pick swiped from the New York Mets, Flores looked like the kind of steal Washington needed, a rising talent capable of handling his position for five or six years.
| The Flores file |
| » Jesus Flores and teammate and fellow catcher Wilson Ramos both are from Venezuelan cities on the Caribbean Sea. Flores hails from Carupano, and Ramos is from Valencia, about 300 miles west. |
| » The 6-foot-1, 230-pound Flores was signed by the New York Mets as an amateur free agent at 17. He had never played above high-A before the Nats took him in the 2007 Rule V draft and kept him on the big league roster that entire season. |
| » Flores batted .256 in 2008 with a .698 OPS, 18 doubles and eight home runs. He was off to a fine start in 2009 with a .301 average, .877 OPS and nine extra-base hits in the first 29 games until a shoulder injury ended his season. |
That was before a routine foul ball smashed off his right shoulder during a May 9, 2009, game at Arizona, leading to two years of injury and frustration. During that time away the Nats traded for Wilson Ramos, a strong-armed prospect stuck behind star catcher Joe Mauer in the Minnesota Twins organization. Now Ramos is the one expected to anchor that position in the coming years.
But Flores is back in the major leagues finally, and that’s what matters. Thanks to an injury to veteran Ivan Rodriguez (strained right oblique), who has missed over a month already and had a setback earlier this week, Flores has earned some playing time after spending most of the season at Triple-A Syracuse. It isn’t much — nine starts since his recall July 8 — but it is enough to give hope he can win the backup catcher spot in 2012.
“It hasn’t been really easy for me,” Flores said of shaking off almost two full seasons of rust. “But I guess I’ve been trying to do my best, working extra and trying to get that speed going on with the game. But I’m feeling pretty good. Shoulder is good. Everything is good. I just need to relax and play like I always have done.”
What was originally diagnosed as a severe bruise following that foul ball in 2009 morphed into a stress fracture when Flores tried to return too quickly. After soreness persisted all summer, further tests revealed a torn labrum. At spring training in 2010 — five months after he finally had surgery — Flores could hardly return the ball to the mound after a pitch. He spent the entire season in Viera, Fla., strengthening the shoulder but never played so much as a minor league game. His career was in jeopardy.
But by this February enough of the strength had returned to get Flores back on the field. After a brief stint in Washington, he struggled to regain his timing at Syracuse with a .630 OPS in 209 at-bats. Back with the Nats, Flores is still finding his way at the plate (7-for-34, .206 batting average) and in the field (3-for-13 caught stealing).
“The tendency sometimes when it’s not hurting is ‘Well, maybe I better just not push it,’?” Nats manager Davey Johnson said. “A couple times he’s not made real strong throws down there. … [But] he’s got a tremendous release, and his arm strength is better. I think that’s going to translate not only as he gets stronger and trusts it, but it’s going to make his hitting better.”
